Folding door



E. J. G. PHILLIPS.

FOLDING DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17. 1920.

Patented May 10, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E- J. G. PHILLIPS FOLDING DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY17, 1920.

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E. J. G. PHILLIPS.-

FOLDING DOOR- APPLICATION FILED MAY 17, I920- Lfiwfigfio Patented May10,1921.

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PATENT oFricE.

nLLIs J. c. rnILLIPs, or AURORA, ILLINOIS, essrenoa T nrcnanhswlMANUFACTURING COME-ANY, 0F AURORA, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLI-FOLDING- DOOR.

ame.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1921.

Application filed. May 17, 1920. Serial No. 382,011.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLIs J. G. FIIILLIPe, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Aurora, in the county of Kane and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FoldingDoors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to folding doors of the type hinged together inpairs and slidably supported so as to be capable of being moved to oneside of the doorway and there folded together at right angles to theirformer position for leaving the major portion of the doorway clear. Itis the object of my invention to provide new and improved means forholding the doors normally at the side of the doorway when folded back,such means being adapted to permit a free movement of the doors againinto operative closing position in the doorway when the doors are givenan unfolding movement to bring them again intov allnement in thedoorway; to provide an improved form of caster wheel for supporting thedoors, employing guiding means holding the wheel in proper operativerelation to the .track in which it runs; and to provide improved meansfor adjusting the caster vertically with respect to the door. Thepreferred means by which I have accomplished my objects are illustratedin the drawings and hereinafter specifically described. That which Idesire to cover by this application is set forth in the claims.

In the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a view of six doors hinged together in pairs closing adoorway;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectiontaken on lme 2+2 of Fig. 1, and showingin'dotted lines the position of the doors at about the close I of anopening operation;

'Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail, partially,

1 broken away, illustrating the doors in their open position; v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary v1ew illustrating the means employed at thebottom of the door for pivotally su porting the door farthest to theright in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an edge view of one of the doors,

.being partly in section as seen on the line indicated by the samereference characters, 10 and 11 indicate two doors hinged together at 12within a doorway 13. As is best shown in Fig. 4, the door 10 ispivotally mounted at its right-hand edge as shown in Fig. 1 by means ofalined pivot pins 14, the arrangement being such that the doors 10 and11 are adapted to be moved into parallel position at right angles totheir operative doorclosing position. The remainder of the doorway isclosed by means of doors 15 and l6 hinged together at 17 and doors l8and 19 hin ed together at 20. The left-hand edge 0 the door 11 and theouter edge of each ofthe doors 15, 16, 18 and 19, are pro vided withsupporting means as hereinafter described by which such doors areadapted to slide transversely of the doorway.'

Each of the doors, with the exception of door 10, is provided at itsouter edge with guiding means adapted to have operative engagement witha slotted track or guide extending longitudinally of the doorway at thetop thereof. This guiding means comprises pins 21 rising from the doorsnear their edge portions and provided with rollers 22 loosely mountedthereon, the rollers 22 having a working fit between two spaced guides23 and 24 fixedly secured in position at the top of the doorway. Washers25 are provided on the upper ends of the pins 21 serving to hold therollers 22 against withdrawal from the slot provided by the spacedguides 23 and 24.

Each of the doors except the door 10 is provided at its lower end at thefree side thereof with a caster adjustably mounted upon the door forsupporting thedoor in its sliding and turning movements. As is bestshown in Fig. 6, each of the casters is secured to the door by means ofa bracket comprising two horizontally disposed bars 26 and 27, thebracket being secured in position by means of screws. A castercomprising a housing 28 which has revolubl mounted therein a casterwheel 29 is provided with a pintle 30 which has a working fit in anopening through the bar 27 and which is adjustab y and revolublyconnected with the bar 26 of the bracket. This adjustable connectionwith the bar 26 is provided by the use of a collar 31 which is mountedby means of screw threads upon the pintle 30, a lock nut 32beingprovided for holding the adjusting collar 31 in the desired adjustedposition. The collar 31 is revolubly mounted in the bar 26 by means of areduced portion 33 extending through a suitable opening in the bar andhaving a working fit therein, a washer 34 being mounted on the upper endof the collar above the bar 26 for preventing its withdrawal. The collar31 is provided with suitable sockets 35 in its face by the use of whichthe collar" can be turned with respect to the intle for adjusting thecaster wheel vertical y with respect to the door. With the caster inposition upon the door,

an adjustment can be effected by the removal of either one or both ofthe inclosing plates 36 which, f are secured in position upon oppositesides ofthe bracket and-caster.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 7, the caster wheel 29 is revolubly mountedin the housing 28 by means of a horizontally-disposed pin 37 whichsupports bearing blocks 38, antifriction devices of any suitable typebeing interposed between the blocks 38 and the have provide wheel 29.The wheel 29 is adapted to bear upon the spaced bars 39 of a slotted orooved track, a circumferential rib that orms a part of the caster wheelbeing adapted to extend between the track portions for guiding thecaster wheel upon the track. As an addltional means for holding thecaster wheel and the housing 28 in proper posi tion with resipect to.the grooved track, I a lug 41 extending downward from the housing 28into engagement with the groove of the track. The lug 41 extendsdownward slightly beyond the rib 40'of the caster wheel and is adaptedto clear from they groove any forelgn matter which might interfere withthe free and easy movement of the wheel in the groove.

The means for holding the doors against" sliding out of their normalfolded position comprises lugs 42 and 43 secured in position tively, thelugs 42 and 43 being positioned at the top and bottom edges respectivelyof the doors. These lugs extend beyond the side edges of the doors so asto be in position to contact pins 44 which are secured to the flooradjacent to the track 39 and to the guide member 23 at the top of thedoorway. The lugs 42 and 43 are in the same vertical plane passingoutside of the door near one face thereof, and the pins 44, with whichthe lugs 42 and 43 of the several doors are brought into contact, are invertical alinement with each other. By this arrangement, the lugs areadapted to pass into operative engagement with the pins 44 by a-smootheasy movement without any unnecessary binding or clashing. By reason ofthe lugs 42 and 43 being upon the leading edges of the doors as thedoors are moved to their normal folding position, such lugs are passedreadily .into contact with the pins 44 for holding the doors againstmovement toward the left as illustrated in Fig. 2 except as the doorsare again moved into alinement with each other for closing the doorway.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. The combination of a door, a grooved track, a housing pivotallymounted on said door to turn about a vertical axis thereon, a lugextending downward from said housing into the groove of said track forbolding the housing in proper position with respect to the track, and acaster wheel revolu bly mounted in said housing and compr sing acircumferential rib engaging the groove of said track.

2. The combination of a door, a bracket comprising two spaced -'aparthorizontal and'a collar adjustably connected y means of screw threadswith said pintle, said collar having a reduced ortion at one end bywhich it is pivotally connected with said bracket.

4. The combination of a door, a bracket 1-2 one of said two bars, and anadjusting memher having a swiveled connection with the upper one of saidtwo bars and having a screw threaded connection with said pintle.

5. The combination of a door, a bracket comprising twohorizontally-disposed bars secured rigidly in position with respect tosaid door, a caster comprising a pintle having a working fit in anopening in the lower one of said two bars, a collar adjustably connectedwith said pintle by means of-screw' 10 threads and having a swiveledconnection with the upper one of said tWo bars, and a locking nut forsecuring said collar against turning about said pintle.

ELLIS J. G. PHILLIPS.

